In this Dec. 1, 2013 file aerial photo, the tollbooth lanes, lower left, lead to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, N.J. Many people have known little about Fort Lee until a political scandal centering on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie enveloped the borough. Now for residents of the New York City bedroom community defined by both a feisty pride and frustration over the mixed blessings of proximity to the George Washington Bridge, the scandal is the reminder they did not need of how the bridge dictates the rhythm of everyday life. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

Photo: Mark Lennihan, Associated Press

In this Dec. 1, 2013 file aerial photo, the tollbooth lanes, lower...

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The shadow of Air Force One with President Barack Obama aboard is seen as it flies over the San Mateo Bridge and San Francisco Bay en rout to the San Francisco International Airport , Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Bridge tolls elsewhere

With tolls on the Golden Gate Bridge headed for as much as $8 by 2017, there's plenty of grumbling and griping. But things could be worse. Or better. The cost of crossing the nation's 150 toll bridges ranges widely - from as little as a dollar to get to Avery Island, La., (home of Tabasco Sauce) to $18 in Virginia. Below is a look at some of the highs and lows at a handful of the nation's better-known bridges:

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

Cash toll: $15 round-trip, collected in one direction; electronic pass: $10.66. The bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York City opened in 1964, is 4,260 feet long and carries an average of 189,000 cars a day.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

$15 each direction peak season (May to September); $13 off-peak; $18 for round trips within 24 hours. The other Bay Bridge stretches 20 miles from Virginia Beach and Norfolk to Virginia's eastern shore. It includes two tunnels - each about a mile long - and four man-made islands, one with a visitor center and a restaurant. It opened in 1964 with a parallel span added in 1995. About 10,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily.

George Washington Bridge

$13 cash, collected in one direction; $11 with electronic pass during peak hours; $9 with electronic pass off-peak. The nation's busiest bridge, with about 280,000 crossings a day, may now be best known as the bridge that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's aides clogged. Built in 1931 with a second deck added in 1962, it carries traffic 4,760 feet from Fort Lee, N.J., to northern Manhattan.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

$5.25 cash toll collected in one direction; $4.25 with electronic pass; $6.25 to pay by license plate through mail. Best known for collapsing dramatically in a wind storm months after it opened in 1940, the current span was built in 1950 and a second bridge added in 2007. It stretches 5,400 feet to connect Tacoma, Wash., with the Kitsap Peninsula. It carries about 90,000 vehicles a day.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

$1.25 cash toll collected in both directions; $1 with electronic pass. Traversing Tampa Bay and connecting St. Petersburg, Fla., with Terra Ceia in the Bradenton-Sarasota area, the 4.1-mile span opened in 1987 and is crossed by about 51,000 vehicles daily.

Bay Area bridges

California's only toll bridges, six of the seven Caltrans-owned spans - the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez. Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael and San Mateo (pictured) bridges - charge $5 tolls. On weekdays, the Bay Bridge charges $6 during the busiest morning and evening hours and $4 at other times; on weekends, the toll is $5. Despite the Golden Gate's toll increase, officials at the Bay Area Toll Authority say they have no plans to raise tolls, last boosted in 2010. Yet.